Mahua Moitra, the leader of the Trinamool Congress, praised comedian Kunal Kamra for his incisive response to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the right-wing group that compelled Gurugram organisers to cancel the stand-up comedian’s performance. In an open letter, Kamra challenged the VHP to publish any video of him disparaging “Hindu culture,” claiming that he “only pokes fun at the government.”
“If you are a government pet then you may feel bad. Where did the Hindu thing come from in this?” he wrote.
In addition, Kamra removed the word “world” from the group’s name because he didn’t think that “the Hindus of this world have given you the contract of their religion.”
He then issued a written “Godse murdabad” challenge to the VHP, urging them to denounce Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. Known for criticising the BJP-led NDA government over several issues, the stand-up comic proclaimed himself as “a bigger Hindu” than the VHP as he doesn’t earn his living by fear-mongering and issuing threats.
“I chant ‘Jai Shri Sita-Ram’ and ‘Jai Radha Krishna’ loudly and with pride. If you really are the children of India, write and send (messages of) ‘Godse Murdabad’. If you don’t, you will be perceived as anti-Hindu and supporters of terrorism.”
“Don’t tell me you consider Godse as God? If that is true, I will keep getting my shows cancelled in the future too. I’ll just be happy to have emerged a bigger Hindu than you in this test. Whatever I’ll do, I’ll eat my hard-earned bread as I’m a bigger Hindu than you. I feel it is a sin to live on scraps by threatening someone and spreading fear,” Kamra wrote in Hindi, tagging the official Twitter handle of the VHP. To this, Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra said, “Good one Kunal. Let’s hope at least some of them can read…”